Christmas Dinner

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

We had a lovely Christmas. We slept til 8:00 AM which was so nice. When the kids were little they were up well before dawn poking around. This year my daughter, son-in-law, and new Grandson spent the night with my son-in-law’s  parents so they arrived at our house mid-morning. We opened presents, had breakfast and spent the rest of the morning/afternoon being slugs.

I was off the hook for dinner this year. We were invited to my son-in-law’s parents for dinner. I only needed to take dessert. Easy! I took a pumpkin pie, and apple pie. They were a nice end to Marilyn’s fabulously delicious Italian dinner…I should say feast.

When we arrived Marilyn had the table laid; it was festive, and reminded me of my Mother’s Christmas table setting.

Marilyn's Christmas Table

There were before dinner hors d’oeuvres. My favorite was a Corn dip. I don’t know what besides corn is in it, but it’s really good. I need to get the recipe. We ate it with tortilla chips:

Corn Dip

Little Jaxon made the rounds meeting some relatives for the first time since coming home. Here is he with his Great Uncle Don, and Great Aunt Steph.  Jaxon is in for a lot of good times and laughs when Uncle Don is around. He’s funny!

The Greatest Aunt Steph and Uncle Don

Aunt Rhianna, Uncle Ben, and cousin Maci were there too:

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

Jaxon eventually made it back to his Mommy, and his Daddy was nearby.

John Allie and Jaxon Christmas 2012

The aromas emanating from Marilyn’s kitchen were making my stomach rumble.  There’s nothing like a home filled with the great aromas of a home cooked meal about to be served. On the menu were:

Lamb Osso bucco, Chicken cacciatore, a spinach salad with pecans, and pomegranate, all tossed with a light dressing,  fresh steamed broccoli on the side, and no Italian meal is complete without pasta. It was paired nicely with a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Moscato wine.  Oh, and Mother’s milk for Jaxon.

Both the chicken and the lamb were so tender; they fell off the bone at the slightest touch of a fork tine.

Marilyn's Chicken Cacciatore

Lamb Osso Bucco, Chicken and Pasta

Our lovely Hostess Marilyn:

Marilyn_0829Thank you so much for a wonderful meal, great conversation, and your warm hospitality! I’ll be dieting the rest of the week.

Marilyn, I’m serious, come for New Year’s Dinner and share our family tradition with us!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and were blessed to spend it with those you love.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 50mm AF-D| SB600 Speedlight

Northern Harrier on the Hunt

Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

This Harrier was just one of many great birds I saw when I got out for a day of birding recently. The Harriers were flying low over the ponds, and marshes all day long. Whenever they were near, or overhead the Snow Geese, White-Fronted Geese, Ibis, and Coots would take to the sky. The noise was amazing to hear.
Late in the afternoon  we saw a Harrier chasing a Snow Goose, the goose dived into the marsh grass with the Harrier in hot pursuit! We waited with anticipation to see if the Harrier would come up with the Goose. He did not! That was one lucky goose.

Northern Harrior on the Hunt                                                                 Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200 @ 200 + Tamron 1.4x TC| f8| 1/800 sec| ISO 500| Hand-held and shot from the car window

There must have been a Harrier nearby to create this stir-up

White Fronted Geese

Snow geese in retreat…

Snow Geese in Flight

a couple of Greater White-fronted Geese enjoying the pond,

Greater White-fronted Geese

Rejoicing in the Christmas Spirit

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve gone out a couple of evenings taking photos of the Christmas Lights around my neighborhood.
I’m behind with my decorating, but have been shopping!
We got the house lights up today, and I hope to get my tree and mantle decorated this week.
I’ve been distracted repainting my daughter’s old bedroom, and getting it ready for her stay here. She and her hubby are moving in this week to be near me and nearer the hospital while we wait for my first grandchild’s birth.
My daughter has begun dilating so it could be anytime now. We’re very anxious, and excited. I’ll be staying close to home for the foreseeable future.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 24mm @ f8| 3.0 sec| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Tripod

Adobe Updates available Lightroom 4.3 and ACR 7.3

Adobe issued two new updates today. Lightroom 4.3, and Adobe Camera Raw 7.3.

Here’s what Adobe says about the 4.3 update

“The Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 4.3 update includes these enhancements:
• HiDPI support within the Library and Develop Modules. HiDPI provides support for Retina-enabled Macs.
• Additional raw file support for 20 cameras including the Canon EOS 6D, Nikon D600 and Olympus PEN E-PL5.
• Corrections and bug fixes for issues introduced in previous versions of Lightroom.”

Windows download here.

MAC download here.

Adobe Camera Raw 7.3 added quite a few new camera profiles

Windows download here

Mac download here

P.S. If you use Windows you can download Microsoft’s new Codec pack which allows viewing of many new device specific file formats.

Marsh Wren

Mash Wren, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
This is my first Marsh Wren capture on film. I tried to get one back in 2010 and have been trying since. My friend Alex told me what this bird was then and how hard they are to get on film. Boy, was he right! They’re flity little things. This one  was busy hopping from reed to reed, but thankfully he wanted to be in the sun after days of rain, and didn’t retreat inside the reeds so I was able to capture him on film.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 80-200 @ 200mm+ Tamron 1.4xTC|f8|1/800s|Manual Priority| Hand-held

 

J.S. Bach

J.S. Bach, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

J.S. Bach is my “go to” composer when I want to play the piano. I struggle to play him well, but I love his music.

This little bust of J.S. Bach sits on top of my piano.
I’ve been using my Strobe/Speedlight a bit more and I’d like to acheive a level of proficiency with it.
It’s more intimating than learning the ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed triangle!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 50mm @f8| 1/60s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Hand-held | SB600 @ 1/2 power